Springsteen Has 'Dream' Debut Atop Album Chart

Submitted by admin on Wed, 2009-02-04 11:27

As expected, Bruce Springsteen's new album, "Working on a Dream," dethrones Taylor Swift's "Fearless" after an eight-week reign. The Columbia set sold 224,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving the Boss' his ninth No. 1 album on the chart.

Springsteen is now tied with the Rolling Stones for the third most No. 1 albums. Only the Beatles (with 19), Elvis Presley (10) and Jay-Z (also 10) have more.

The first week sales for "Dream" were off 33% compared to the opening frame of his last studio set, 2007's "Magic" (335,000), which also debuted at No. 1. Springsteen and his E Street Band performed Sunday during the Super Bowl halftime show and will begin a world tour April 1 in San Jose, Calif.

The multi-artist compilation "Grammy Nominees 2009," issued by Rhino Records, debuts at No. 6 with 33,000, only a couple hundred fewer than West's sum. The album contains songs from this year's crop of nominees, including Coldplay, Adele, Lil Wayne featuring T-Pain and Radiohead.

Debuting at No. 11 with 25,000 is Sony's "Voices: WWE the Music Vol. 9," which boasts theme songs and entrance music for the pro wrestling association's stars.

Other debuts this week include country singer Pat Green's "What I'm For" (BNA) at No. 18 with 18,000, Hoobastank's "FOR(N)EVER" (Island) at No. 26 with 15,000 and multi-label and -artist set "WOW Gospel 2009: 30 of the Year" at No. 27 with a few dozen copies less than Hoobstank.

At 6.50 million units, sales are up 1.2% compared to the same total last week but are off by 14% compared to the same week in 2008.